Review: The Beaver Theory, by Antti Tuomainen, trs. David Hackston

Description

Henri Koskinen, intrepid insurance mathematician and adventure park entrepreneur, firmly believes in the power of common sense and order. That is until he moves in with painter Laura Helanto and her daughter…

As Henri realises he has inadvertently become part of a group of local dads, a competing adventure park is seeking to expand their operations, not always sticking to the law in the process…

Is it possible to combine the increasingly dangerous world of the adventure-park business with the unpredictability of life in a blended family? At first glance, the two appear to have only one thing in common: neither deals particularly well with a mounting body count.

In order to solve this seemingly impossible conundrum, Henri is forced to step far beyond the mathematical precision of his comfort zone … and the stakes have never been higher…

My Review

Thanks to Anne for organising this tour and to the team at Orenda Books for sending me a copy of this novel. Antti Tuomainen’s books always make me giggle.

Henri is back! He’s dealing with changes – moving in with Laura and Tuuli, and losing customers to a rival adventure park, that is letting people in for free. How will he cope?

We find him first burglarising his rival, and finding a body. Desperate not to be accused of murder, he escapes. We go back in time, a week before the burglarising, to Henri’s moving day. How do we get from one to the other? Well, that’s complicated…

Henri has somehow been roped into joining the group of dads organising a class trip to Paris as the budgeting officer. He also has a group of criminals trying to frame him for murder. Life with Laura and Tuuli is blissful, but Henri is conflicted. About everything.

Pressure mounts as two young police officers start accusing Henri of murder and the adventure park continues to be empty. When the staff get a load to tide them over, Henri feels even more pressure. A visit from Osmaala and a trip to see Laura’s latest work, however, puts Henri back on an even keel. He just has to find a killer, prove police corruption and save the adventure park from ruin. Again.

Eventually, plans form, Henri remembers he is an actuary and meditates on what it means to be part of a family. And there may be some decapitation, dancing with nearly dead people, running from blackmailers through January snow, and, arranging arrests involved.

And a horse. It’s all about the horse. The beaver is a red herring.

Tuomainen always starts these books with an exciting event where the reader is left wanting to know how Henri got there. The plot then goes back in time and Henri tells us all about it. It’s a useful structure for the nature of these whimsical crime stories. So far Henri has been involved in multiple deaths and body hiding, dealt with criminals and financial fraud, and avoids managing to get arrested for anything. To be fair, he hasn’t killed anyone himself, it just looks suspicious. Henri is an entertaining and endearing character; he’s trying so hard but can’t quite get things right, and keeps falling into trouble, usually caused by his brother’s actions.

The structure of this book follows the same structure as the first two, and ends on a quiet, hopeful note. This is usually in a chapter set weeks or months after the climax of events. In Beaver, the climax involves a school fete, a revenge-filled jockey, shotguns and pistols at sunset, Osmaala turning up at a livery stable in the nick of time, and Henri getting everything back in order, although he does have to wear clothes from the lost and found box. Again. It was quite the exciting read. The final chapter of the book, and of the series, was a release, and a relaxation of tension, as Osmaala and Henri acknowledge their parts in several cases, and the case Osmaala has been putting off retirement for – clearing corruption from the Helsinki police. But its the last time, for Osmaala and for Henri. No more investigations or running away from murderers. Or accidentally killing people. Or hiding bodies. or bringing down criminal gangs…

Henri’s difficulties with relationships, with communication, and with social conventions are even clearer in this novel. The new environment of living with Laura and Tuuli, and the propensity of all the other people he interacts with to assume there’s a double meaning to his honest, clear communication, add stress. I felt the urge to scream at the criminals and police alike “Just because the rest of you are dishonest liars who immediately jump to assuming threats and violence, does not mean that everyone is!” on Henri’s behalf.

I understand his frustration and confusion at the multiple conversations apparently going on beneath the surface. People too often assume that more is being said than is actually being said and react according to what they think has been said, not what has actually been said.

I loved the description of how art affects Henri, it’s so visceral! There’s a euphoric feeling when a piece of art takes over and wraps itself around you, and you fall into it and fly. Tuomainen does a really good job of describing the feelings of being overwhelmed by the sensations of something that brings joy. He also does a really good job of describing the confusion of multiple conversations going on at once, the pain of bad lighting and the dislocation when trying to move from one overwhelming event to another, the feeling of not being quite there yet, mentally, even if the body is physically in a new place. It’s dissociation. Been there, done that.

Antti, are you autistic, by any chance?

Henri learns that a family, in complete opposition to his life and experiences so far, can be a safe, loving, place. His birth family was chaotic and traumatic, his chosen life was solitary and controlled, to protect himself from any further chaos, but his new, chosen families are safe, spontaneous and places where he can be himself, while relaxing and developing as a person. He learns there’s more to life than mathematics (although he’ll always be a mathematician).

I enjoy these books, they’re gentle, humorous, and the criminals are either inept or ridiculous, and are justly punished. A good evening read.

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ABOUT ANTTI TUOMAINEN

Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as
a suspense author. In 2011, his third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Finnish
Crime Novel and shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen
was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-genre formula, and his poignant, dark and
hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last
Laugh Awards and now a Finnish TV series. Palm Beach, Finland (2018) and Little Siberia (2019) were shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The Rabbit Factor, the first book in the trilogy will soon be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell for Amazon Studios, and the first two books were international bestsellers.

Antti lives in Helsinki with his wife.